This one’s not my original work, but it’s too good not to share. I did a bit of re-writing, but if anyone knows the original author, please let me know. I’d love to be able to give proper credit for this wonderful parable.
The mouse peeked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. “What wonderful food might this contain?” the mouse wondered as his little nose sniffed the air. He was horrified to see it was a mousetrap!
Scurrying to the barnyard, the mouse screamed his warning, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head, and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.”
The mouse ran to the pig and told him, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”
The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.”
The mouse dashed to the cow and said, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”
The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m really sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.”
So the mouse, head down, feeling dejected, returned to the house to face the farmer’s mousetrap….alone.
That very night, a sound echoed through the house – the single abrupt snap of a mousetrap capturing its prey.
The farmer’s wife, awakened by the noise, rushed through the darkness to see what was caught. In the deep shadows, she did not see the venomous snake whose tail was wedged in the trap.
With a ferocious strike, the snake’s fangs injected poison into the soft flesh of the farmer’s wife’s leg. Hearing her scream, the farmer rushed her to her aid and killed the snake with a butcher knife. He called the doctor, who came right away and removed as much poison as he could and gave her medicine, but her fever would not go down.
Everyone knows that chicken soup is the best treatment for a fever, so the farmer took his hatchet to the barnyard to collect the main ingredient.
But the poison continued to do its deadly work, and her sickness continued. Friends and neighbors sat with her round the clock and, to feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.
Alas, the farmer’s wife did not recover – and on the third day, she died.
She was well-loved by all and her funeral drew so many people that the farmer slaughtered the cow to provide enough meat to feed them.
Meanwhile, the mouse with great sadness stared out from his crack in the wall. He had tried to warn them….
So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem, and you don’t think it concerns you, remember this little story. When one of us is threatened, we’re all at risk. Together, we are all in this journey called life.
So keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to give support and encouragement. Never forget that each and every one of us is a vital thread in another person’s tapestry – our lives are woven together tightly for a reason.